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Mobile text alerts are a convenient way to stay on top of your balance, deposits, payments and suspicious activity on your bank account.

But as this technology has become more popular, con artists are using it to steal your money!

Beware of this bank phishing scam

Posing as your bank, scammers will send text messages that say that you need to update your profile information and provide a link to a bogus website.

So many people take the bait because the scammer’s website looks legit – often using your bank’s logo.

One of Clark’s radio show listeners passed along this text message that he recently received from a scammer that was pretending to be Chase Bank.

But he knew it was a scam because he doesn’t even have an account with the bank.

Other people on Clark’s Facebook page say they’ve gotten the exact same text message recently from scammers posing as other banks.

Bottom line: Do not click any suspicious links in text messages!

If you receive a message that you’re not sure about, log in from your bank’s official website or call them using the number on the back of your ATM or debit card.

Here are some other helpful tips from the BBB to protect against text message scams:

Just hit delete! Ignore instructions to confirm your phone number or visit a link. Some scam texts instruct you to text ‘STOP’ or ‘NO’ to prevent future texts. But this is a common ploy by scammers to confirm they have a real, active phone number.

Know your rights. Real commercial text messages must provide a free, easy way for you to opt out of future communication. Learn more here.

Know how to combat spam texts. In Canada, an anti-spam law covers text messages. Learn more about reporting and fighting spam here. In the U.S., forward the texts to 7726 (SPAM on most keypads). This will alert your cell phone carrier to block future texts from those numbers.

Watch out for look-alike URLs. Just because a URL has the name of a real company in it, doesn’t mean it’s legitimate. Anyone can register a sub-domain (realcompany.website.com) or similar URL (realcompany1234.com).

Ask your phone carrier about blocking third-party charges. Mobile phone carriers permit outside businesses to place charges on your phone bill, but many carriers also allow you to block these charges for free.